1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally directed to a method and an apparatus to teach students the relation of numbers and items to mathematics by having the students visually and manually associate numbers with items, and then add and subtract these items. This invention of visual and manual manipulations of items on apparatus hardware is designed to relate with similar manipulations using the apparatus depicted on a computer screen. This teaches and relates skills to students by permitting use in either or both media.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Instruction devices teaching mathematical relationships and basic algebraic equations such as addition and subtraction have been available for more than one hundred years. Many of the various apparatus to aid teaching school children involve intricate and confusing structures, partial instruction concerning only addition and subtraction equations, or minimal student manual involvement relating numbers to items and mathematics. These devices are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,884,973; 4,553,944; 3,837,096; 2,887,789; 1,997,177; 502,184; and 480,164.
Several of these patents assume that the student knows numbers but not mathematics. Some combine the items into indistinguishable groups with no visual orderly display to numbers, and others do not permit the student to handle or singularly manipulate the correct number of items relating to a number. Most involve a display apparatus but do not allow the student to physically handle and count individual items as part of the instruction. To overcome these difficulties, the present invention found that the memory of numbers and mathematical facts may be enhanced by using a special apparatus and method.
None of these prior patents has designed the utility hardware to relate to the teaching medium of computers thereby teaching association of real objects to computer displays. With students today using computers and computer methods, the present apparatus and method permit teaching mathematics with a hardware apparatus and also an option of using the same apparatus and teaching method when displayed on a computer screen.